Trivia Post

Here is a place where you can post up trivia questions and answers you come up with for our potential Jeopardy game with the citizens of Hope Lodge. Try to come up with questions that fit a theme, and that older members of the community will be able to answer. For example, "what is P Diddy's real name," might not be the best question.

-Fr. Ryan

Genesis 22: 1-19 Discussion Topics and Questions

The Akedah: The Binding of Isaac

• One of the toughest stories in the Bible, the Binding of Isaac has been debated by scholars and theologians for centuries.
• Some scholars see in the story a prefiguring of Christ;
• Other scholars take the meaning of the story to be a prohibition of human sacrifice;
• While still others think the point of this passage is obedience to God.
• What do you think it is?

Did you know...?

This story has been popular with artists and authors for a long time, and makes an appearence in the following popular songs:

1. Highway 61 Revisited by: Bob Dylan
2. Story of Isaac by: Leonard Cohen
3. Isaac and Abraham by: Joan Baez

and the following popular films:

1. The Rapture directed by: Michael Tonklin
2. Fraility directed by: Bill Paxton
3. The Believer directed by: Henry Bean

and in the following popular books:

1. Fear and Trembling by: Soren Kierkegaard
2. Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by: Dan Simmons

-Fr. Ryan

What's in a Name?

I continue to be impressed with the questions you all have. This week, one of you wanted to know about the name of God, and why some Jewish folk say "Yahweh" and we don't.

Well, in a nutshell, it has something to do with the way Jewish liturgy developed, and something to do with the way the Bible has been translated over the years.

The divine name, called the Tetragrammaton, appears in the text with the Hebrew characters "yod," "hey,", "waw,", "hey." YHWH. Jewish people did not believe in saying the divine name out loud for religious reasons. It was too holy. Eventaully, over the years, the true pronunciation was lost. It wasn't until much later that vowels were inserted into the text.

BUT, because the divine name was so holy, they did not want to put in the vowels for it which would allow it to be said aloud by accident easily. So, when they came across the divine name, they put in the vowels for the word "adonai", which means, "My Lord." That way, when they saw it, they knew in their minds it was the divine name, but knew that in order to say it out loud, they were suppossed to say "adonai." Now, many Jews simply say "ha shem", which means, "the Name," to avoid confusion.

When the Bible is translated into English, this distinction is made by putting the word LORD in all capital letters. So, when you see "LORD" in all capital letters, you know the Hebrew has the divine name printed there.

When you see the word "lord" in lower case letters, or with only the "L" upper case, it is a different Hebrew word referring to the deity(Elohim) which means "God", or is not referring to God at all and is the word "adon" and refers to some kind of human lord/master.

-Fr. Ryan

Genesis 21:1-20 Discussion Topics and Questions

The Birth of Laughter and the Exile of Ishmael

• As you read this story, pay attention to which character it is with whom you most identify? Why?
• Read the story through again, this time selecting a different character with whom to identify. What was different? What was the same?
• What did you discover reading the story in these ways?

Did you know...?

1. The name "Isaac" means "laughter" in Hebrew. The name is a pun on Sarah's part - she laughed when God told her she would bear a son at her late age; her friends laughed when they heard the news; and Sarah laughed when her son was born.
2. Isaac will grow up and have many children, one of whom is Jacob who will in turn be the father of 12 sons from whom the 12 tribes of Israel are descended. We will follow the story of Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's children (especially Joseph) in the coming weeks.

-Fr. Ryan